my review of 'the game' by neil strauss

[sonofjeffy]

[forward to review]

why have i written this review and why did i spend so much time critiquing strauss's work as of late?

well, to start off, 'the game' was my first big exposure to the community. i was amazed by it, and it set me off on my journey that wasted some of the best years of my life.

fast foward 5 years later and my interactions with women, and my life in general, have only been getting better the less time i spend exposed to this pickup stuff.

so i decided to soon make a clean break from the community and pickup and move on with my life. however, before i could do that i felt i had unfinished business. of all the pua products i've watched/read/listened to over the years and now realize how utter crap they are there was still this nagging feeling about 'the game'. i liked 'the game' then and i thought i still did now, so i decided to give it a second read, this time with a more critical eye. so i guess i did it to provide closure of a sorts.

looking back on this was a great idea, all those nostalgic feelings i had for it are gone, washed away. so it ends where it first began for me, the game. on to the review.

[sonofjeffy]

[about the book]

i found the book to be an easy read thanks to the very short chapters. which is good because it is a long book. he also draws many similarities between the community and the novel/film 'fight club'.

as for the writing, strauss has this habit i noticed, that when he describes people he always finds some flaw in them. for example, pg[271]
"Isabel, who had a habit of twitching her nose like a rat in search of cheese."

and on the subject of description, strauss has this habit of describing, in too much detail, the clothes that every character wears. thats actually not very good writing.

as for the content of the book, he presents pua material in a way that says 'if you just recite memorized routines you will get the girl, its that easy.' the very idea of that is very attractive to guys who are socially awkward around women.

however, it becomes clear early on that strauss himself is a social robot. repeating what he has learnt from other people word for word, then teaching said method to other people, then chastises them, his students for also becoming social robots.

strauss's imagination is severely lacking. if it wasnt for the interesting material people give him (ie all his other books) he could never write a successful original book in his life. if you've read any of strauss's other work like 'the long hard road out of hell' or 'the dirt' you see a pattern form were, although strauss is a good writer, he has the imagination of a brickwall, and everything he tries to make up, to fill in the pieces, sounds contrived and made up. the whole, teenage girlfriend with a baby is one example, which really drags the game down.

and on that subject i found the idea of a 30 something guy (especially one that looks like neil strauss) living with a 19 year old girl with her parents and son actually sounds really weird and creepy.

during my writing of this review i decided to try to find out how much of it was based on truth, and to my surprise alot of it was. however, some bits werent. he weaves fact with fiction so its hard to tell whats bullshit and whats not. the best lies are the ones mixed in with truth so you cant really be sure where the truth begins and the lies end.

[sonofjeffy]

[the inconsistancies]

one thing that had me scratching my head a couple of times upon the re-read and something thats also a mark of a bad writer were the inconsistancies that occurred during the story.

the biggest inconsistancy would have to be how he feels about the community. at differing points during the story he either plays up pickup as some desirable lifestyle with commeraderie and at other times he just hangs shit on everyone and the community.

the two most prominent examples i found of this were

"Two sisters and their mother had made the mistake of walking down a hotel hallway full of pickup artists, and the vultures were descending on the carrion."
pg155

and

"We were ready to infect the world like a disease."
pg285


another inconsistancy was how at varying times he states that either noone brought girls back to project hollywood, or that they were bringing them back by the truckload.


the last inconsistancy i had issue with was him blaming Katya for the turmoil that occurred in the house as evidenced by this excerpt

"It took just one woman to bring Project Hollywood down."
pg337

i dont see why how earlier in the story they seemed to be bringing the house down all by themselves pretty alright. yet with her arrival we're suddenly told to forget everything we've read before and just blame her.

[sonofjeffy]

[lisa]

one of the major plot points in the game is style falling for a girl called lisa.

one would think that the greatest pickup artist in the world could score a young model or some famous actress, but what does he get?

someone in her mid-thirties, whose an aging rocker that has produced squat, with a bad attitude and dislikes all his friends.

she sounds like a real bitch. so why on earth does he get so pussy-whipped over her? what makes her so special?


i couldnt help but laugh when i read this bit (pg434)

"Everyone was hitting on me tonight," she giggled. Modesty was never her strong suit. "I hope you realize that you are dating the most fabulous
girl in L.A."

so apparently the most fabulous girl in la is an aging bitch who has done nothing with her life and still goes out to get drunk most nights? fuck, i thought la was meant to have some good quality girls there.

[sonofjeffy]

[his role in it all]

strauss spends a good deal of 'the game' hanging shit on every other pua, but he barely mentions himself. we dont really get to know style at all, he writes like an outsider looking in. so his role in 'the game' is one of an observer. which is, not surprisingly, how alot of people with anxiety issues come off as well. in fact, i got the feeling that in real life, strauss is just a really insecure passive-aggressive leech.

i noted several times during the novel how he keeps making all these rationalizations all the time.
one long series of rationalizations about everything. he's the kind of person that is forever stuck in his own head, unable to just be in the present moment.

one thing i found interesting was how he tries to seperate himself from everyone else, such as in this example from pg318

"There was Real Social Dynamics, encamped in Papa's room, and Mystery Method, which had the rest of the house. I was the only person under the roof who wasn't on the payroll of either."

[sonofjeffy]

[conclusion]

in conclusion, the game is a clear piece of FICTION that i once thought was pretty good. saying that i now know its just like a james bond movie, nice fantasy but not reality. still it was a nice fantasy.

the actual plot structure of the story isnt good at all. saying one thing at one time then contradicting itself another. it makes me wonder how anyone reading that come away thinking this guy could be worshipped the way that he is.
i think they were just blinded by the idea of being able to seduce women that they overlooked the books many many flaws.

the reality is 'the game' was a very clever, backstabbing/scheming way to make alot of money. make the book while subtly discrediting all the other gurus out there while making yourself to be the number 1 guy. then leave, then come back for a limited time only (creating scarcity so its okay to charge big $$$), then create dvds of it, then create an online academy, then create another book. the guy has made a fortune off his calculated scheme, and alot of unfortunate people fell for it.

[chator]

how is The Game a clear piece of fiction? Is this just an unfounded allegation of yours, or do you have some evidence in support of this claim?

Many events and persons in the book line up with actual people and events that are verified by other people other than Strauss. What part of The Game is fiction?

[Magic 8-Ball]

.
.
Better not tell you now.
.
.

[Fabie]

of course "the game" is piece of fiction or comedy...full of invents exaggeration and lies
neil done the book to cause big impression and to make some money and was successfully in both

[Junkyface]

Way too much faggotry to actually read. Seriously, you wrote this shit...why?

Faggot

[shutupwoman]

my "revieww" on ur mom.


Hot Anal Sex.

[El dude]

^^^^

[charlied]

Originally Posted by L U C I F E R

That shit cray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXoVR...e_gdata_player

You Tube

[chator]

Originally Posted by Fabie

of course "the game" is piece of fiction or comedy...full of invents exaggeration and lies
neil done the book to cause big impression and to make some money and was successfully in both

I am now modifying my opinion on "The Game" as a work of fiction, I think in one important respect it is, Neil completely ignores R. Don Steele's contribution to the development of the seduction community. He gives full credit to Ross Jeffries, even though R. Don Steele predates him. Neil, who winged with Jeffries, has biasedly and selectively re-written the history of the development of the seduction community, in Jeffries favor. What one Jew won't do for another Jew.

[wtd]

Originally Posted by chator

I am now modifying my opinion on "The Game" as a work of fiction, I think in one important respect it is, Neil completely ignores R. Don Steele's contribution to the development of the seduction community. He gives full credit to Ross Jeffries, even though R. Don Steele predates him. Neil, who winged with Jeffries, has biasedly and selectively re-written the history of the development of the seduction community, in Jeffries favor. What one Jew won't do for another Jew.

who gives a fuck about the seduction comunity ?

[Some Guy]

I totally agree with son of jefy's review.

I read and could not help but think of all the gross exageration mixed in with truth. I have studied bias in literature before.

Also you will note the book starts with a disclaimer: that two characters were joined together, and that certain things were out of place, whatnot point is: to make it a better story. lmao

Once I read that bit, motherfuckers!, that gives a guy HUGE licence to say whatever he wants.

For me, on top of SOJ's review, he seemed to on the surface try and tackle the industry, and run a critique on it as if it were his objective (but we know his objective is to make himself look good and sell a story), but it was all plastic....he only really sinks his teeth in a couple of times "I thought we held the keys to the world, but they were squandering it"

"Mystery was a loser".

I read keeping points in my head and bias indicators and inaccuracies all in my mind. Its all a finely balanced work of fiction. Mystery never really loses out. Nor does Tyler Durden truly. Style comes away looking like a hero.

The book is a piece of shit and its a sorry thing for the people of this world to label it interesting. But thats life.

___

I was not in the game when the book came out. I left long before money ever came into it, and I only brushed and dabbled in game during 2003 mostly. I have a whole life outside of game and built beyond game (not needing game myself)...and I remember reading the book and thinking "wow, while I was enjoying enormous happiness and love, and heaps of hot sex many years into my ltr, kids, and all the great joys and abundance of emotional and material joy in my life, this idiot was still working out how to approach women....what a stupid dickhead....and look, haha, he is warping history, its so easy to tell. What a fuckwit. What a lousy loser with deep problems.

___

Its only that once I read the disclaimer at the front, understood beforehand the vanity within these guys, and know of the insecurity all men have with women, I was like " this will be his payback, square-up, history rewrite, and setup to make himself into a hero in a biased and fake way." I just had to sit back and watch the shit-storm.


And it was true. The whole thing was contrived, like a loose movie "based" on real events = fiction. You push something out even slightly at the start and it barrells down the line, smashing future elements in turn. The conversation, the situations, the amount of women he reckons he had (while others got none), ect, ect. I don't believe any of them got laid during that time, I used to figure it was from maybe one or two unlucky girls who were drunk and likely on drugs.


And people bought it, hook, line and sinker. Too funny. Style = A Vain faker.

[Savior]

Hello, new here.
I found this site when checking for PUA material and got interested.

About Neil Strauss book, "The game", I found it fascinating. Although you have to consider it as being one of any other self-help book. A book alone will not transform a guy who is sad about his life, but maybe it can be a motivation to do something about it. (Although it does not necessary have to be through women)

When you make a judgment about the book you should compare it to journalistic work, not fiction. As I know it Neil Strauss is a journalist who writes in documentary style apart from pure fiction.

That is also when The game works best. His description about characters and how he puts it all together in a logical way. I think that his eager to describe fashion and cloths is justified here. He makes no illusion about the superficial environment he writes about. In that environment, cloths, looks and fashion are the attributes that judge a person’s value.

True some of the passages in the book sound a bit "sick", or should you say kindly odd. But when he writes about it, and about dicks, sucking and so on it makes it a lot more direct and more fun to read. As a professional he knows that if you write a biography like this and hide the juicy details it will both be false and boring to read. And thus sell bad.

Having said that, the book also has some bad parts. As his style works best in a fast shotgun journalistic way it gets cliché in some parts. Like in the part when Mystery makes the metaphor about a PUA and a scorpion. A PUA can’t help picking up women even if it destroys his life, and a scorpion can’t help to sting. It is their nature.

We have seen that exact metaphor countless of times in bad movies.

Also he writes kind of black and white. You know direct when a person who appears in the book is evil and an antagonist to Style. They have "false smiles", or look ugly.

Style does not really describe himself much in an unflattering way. I part yes, but not at same extent as others who appeared in the book was described. Instead he glorifies himself in many passages in the book. (in the way a PUA named Juggler described him, he let down his friend Mystery but in the book he blamed Tyler Durden and not himself for it)

Although. This book should be judge as a fun self-help book and not the holy bible. And as so it works great.
(English is not my native language so bare with me typos and bad grammar)

[WorldAround]

Great fairy tale, i enjoyed the book

[JimJonesWasGod]

Strauss took the easy way out by having Lisa as his girlfriend during his media tour (she was spotted with Robbie Williams the following V-Day), and implying that the PUAs were just nice guys trying to get noticed.

I am curious why all these fame-whoring women Stauss seduced never stepped forward to claim their fifteen minutes.

The whole concept that Strauss could go from clueless to guru in a few short years is difficult to grasp, especially since those he wrote about took much longer to learn.

I think the public liked the book becuase it showed the PUA mindset. I don't think they cared much about accuracy. I also think the public has mistakenly treated both the book and the reality show as self-help offferings rather than entertainment loosely based on reality.

The reality show had the feel of what I'd imagine a baseball fantasy camp to be like.

[Aldo]

I had this book. I threw it a few months ago.

The game is mainly a book that does advertising for Mystery (Erik Horvat Markovic), Neil Strauss, Juggler (Wayne Elise), David Deangelo (Eben Pagan), David X, ...

These are interesting videos about Neil Strauss:

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

[JimJonesWasGod]

The marketing began back in 1994 with Ross Jeffries, if you want to get technical. It intensified in 1998-2001 when Formhandle built mASF, and people used that to market. The Layguide got published, which attracted the mainstream media, and that attracted the internet-marketing people.

How can you blame Strauss and his partners for cashing in? It's like with the women: you are what you fuck.

[Aldo]

"How can you blame Strauss and his partners for cashing in?"

I don't blame them to make money out of it. What I blame is they often hide their intent behind false promise and fake smiles.

Neil Strauss, Ross Jeffries and others very often say, ''We don't do this for money, we do this to help people.''

In reality, here is what happens:

A guy is frustrated. He encounters an PUA:

1 - The PUA paces the ongoing reality of the guy. He says, ''I feel your pain (dixit Bill Clinton). I was like you. I was a nice guy. It was terrible.''

2 - Then the PUA leads the guy. He says, ''I found the magic key. Spend money on my product and you'll become like me.''

But what is the success rate of the average guy after having spent more than $500?

[Awakened4570]

Niel Strauss was a journalist, not a fiction writer lol. His job is to report what he sees and give his portrayal of it. I have only readMarilyn Manson,Jenna Jameson,motley crue, and the game biographies, but they were written very well. He does not need to be a great writer to be a journalist, he is a great interviewer, which really shows in his writings.

[puassuck]

I have never read the "The Game" but whenever I read a quote I gag at the pretentious prose, trying to sound like Fight Club, which is a poorly written book.

Paul Ross is a cunt. Strauss is also a cunt.

[ratrace]

Originally Posted by puassuck

I have never read the "The Game" but whenever I read a quote I gag at the pretentious prose, trying to sound like Fight Club, which is a poorly written book.

Paul Ross is a cunt. Strauss is also a cunt.

get bitches

get money

[stiffmeister]

my review of "The Game" by Neil Strauss

You Tube

[Junkyface]

Originally Posted by Awakened4570

Niel Strauss was a journalist, not a fiction writer lol. His job is to report what he sees and give his portrayal of it. I have only readMarilyn Manson,Jenna Jameson,motley crue, and the game biographies, but they were written very well. He does not need to be a great writer to be a journalist, he is a great interviewer, which really shows in his writings.

You're not a journalist when you're the main character and hero of the story, when one of the other main characters (Mystery) is your business partner (not disclosed) and the other (Tyler) is your primary competitor, and the book is published as part of a marketing campaign that leads first to the annihiliation method and then stylelife.

You're not a journalist when no one other than those who financially benefit from the book have said that there's a shred of accuracy to it.

If you're the type of person who believes The Game was based on fact, you probably also believe in the literal word of the Bible. They're both highly implausible, deeply slanted, and designed the sell shit.

[Curtis24]

It is based on fact, but consider the following things:

1) Strauss doesn't include pictures of the women he slept with, except for Lisa Leveridge(more on that later). They easily could have been plain-looking.

2) Strauss wrote for Rolling Stone. Some women will do quite a bit to gain access to handsome celebrities(ok, most women will!!)

3) Strauss claims to have gotten the number of a Playboy Playmate, but he didn't sleep with her! He says he got "interest" from Britney but they never actually slept together.

4) Lisa Leveridge was obscure before she slept with Strauss. Furthermore, she broke up with him months later after hooking up with the musician-singer Robbie Williams... who she may have met through Strauss! Lisa was 36(!) when she slept with Strauss and in my opinion she cynically used him to boost her own profile. She must have known he was writing a book at the time she slept with him...

[JimJonesWasGod]

Originally Posted by Aldo

"How can you blame Strauss and his partners for cashing in?"

I don't blame them to make money out of it. What I blame is they often hide their intent behind false promise and fake smiles.

Neil Strauss, Ross Jeffries and others very often say, ''We don't do this for money, we do this to help people.''

In reality, here is what happens:

A guy is frustrated. He encounters an PUA:

1 - The PUA paces the ongoing reality of the guy. He says, ''I feel your pain (dixit Bill Clinton). I was like you. I was a nice guy. It was terrible.''

2 - Then the PUA leads the guy. He says, ''I found the magic key. Spend money on my product and you'll become like me.''

But what is the success rate of the average guy after having spent more than $500?

You ignore that most customers who buy the lousy products were never hopen to the decent ones. It's much easier to promise the moon, and to believe that type of promise, and easier to make any promise than to deliver.

If guys choose the right guru, it's the biggest bargain on earth. What's it worth to you to learn how to seduce (and how to fuck) the equivalent of Miss America? A guru who can't teach how to fuck a woman sure as heck can't teach how to seduce one.

The other probnlem is that even if you somehow found this ideal guru, the public would just make those methods obsolete, etc.

The public had a true advantage dropped into its lap in 1998. The problem was the media didn't tell them to go looking for it, so only a few independent thinkers found it. It was pretty much all downhill after that.

[JimJonesWasGod]

Originally Posted by Junkyface

You're not a journalist when you're the main character and hero of the story, when one of the other main characters (Mystery) is your business partner (not disclosed) and the other (Tyler) is your primary competitor, and the book is published as part of a marketing campaign that leads first to the annihiliation method and then stylelife.

You're not a journalist when no one other than those who financially benefit from the book have said that there's a shred of accuracy to it.

If you're the type of person who believes The Game was based on fact, you probably also believe in the literal word of the Bible. They're both highly implausible, deeply slanted, and designed the sell shit.

The Game was a fictionalized account of a true story.

Unless you think super-hot women are fucking aliens, there are men out there who know how to seduce them. Those men, whoever they are, have information which is extremely valuable to all other men. That will NEVER change.

That is what Strauss was writing about. How much he and Mystery became those men is up to the reader to decide.